Personification
by Kitten Kisses
Summary: A school assignment is given, and Videl is beyond confused. Gohan gives her some friendly advice: Try writing about something you care about. [Oneshot][GohanVidel]


**Personification  
By: Kitten Kisses**

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"This is so stupid!" Videl huffed, glaring at the sheet of paper in front of her, hands in fists on each side of the offending object. "Why do we even do this crap?"

"Oh, come on, Videl!" Erasa said, a little sternly, her pen hanging out of the corner of her mouth. "It's not so bad!"

"Yeah, Videl," Sharpner cut in. "You're not exactly book-smart, but you should still be able to do this."

The dark-haired young women threw him an indignant glare. "This is ridiculous, and you know it." She raised a fist up and pointed a finger at him. "Do you think giving a rock human characteristics is important, in any way, to our future?"

"It doesn't have to be a rock," the blonde girl stated. "It can be anything at all."

"Yeah," Sharpner smirked, leaning back in his chair, his pencil balanced on his upper lip. "I'm trying to decide what to use for mine. Whatever it is, I'm going to give it _my_ characteristics. Maybe an oak tree?"

"Strong," Gohan said, speaking up from beside Erasa. "But any idiot with an axe can chop it down."

The blonde man's face started to turn red when Erasa giggled a little, and Videl snorted in amusement. "It's not funny!" he insisted. "This is a serious assignment!"

"What about an ass?" the guy beside Sharpner asked him, lips pulled back into a full-blown grin already.

A harsh glare was tossed his way by his target, and he bent over his paper to write his assignment, deciding that, for once, he would not ask for anybody's opinion. He really didn't want it.

"Nobody answered my question," Videl sighed, giving up on getting an answer. Then again, she really didn't care about the volume of a cube, or the anatomy of an earthworm, either. "What are you going to do, Erasa?" she asked her friend, completely out of inspiration.

Staring into space, the blonde shifted her pen up and down inside her mouth as she thought. "I don't know," she said, bored. "I was thinking maybe… a DVD or something."

"Cool," she answered, wondering how it was possible to give a circular disc human characteristics. She looked at Gohan, who was furiously scribbling words onto his paper a mile a minute, not even noticing that she was watching him. On her other side, Sharpner was mumbling to himself as he also wrote. Well, he might be right about her not being very book-smart, but she sure was going to show him!

She just _had_ to write something really good.

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Gohan was rather proud of himself as he glanced over his neatly written paper. It was about a paragraph long, which was still longer than the other student's writings would be, he knew, but it was how well it was written that mattered- not the length. Besides, the teacher was only expecting a sentence. A paragraph would be given an A+ for sure!

Before anyone could catch him beaming at a sheet of notebook paper, he stuffed it into his schoolbag, deciding to proofread it later in the evening. With a few minutes left in the class, he looked over at his friends. Erasa was doodling in the margin of her notebook, and Sharpner was still scribbling like a crazy man, his chicken-scratch uneven and quite possibly, completely illegible.

Videl was still staring dumbly at her own piece of paper, eyebrows furrowed into concentration, her hair hanging into her eyes. He could almost bet she was cursing that unfortunate sheet of paper, _and_ the assignment into oblivion. He couldn't help but smile a little at the thought. She sure was feisty!

After a few seconds, she looked up, catching him staring. Sending him a quick smile, she got back to work, most likely listing off the many colorful words in her vocabulary.

Embarrassed at being caught looking at her, he turned his eyes towards his desk. Willing his blush away, he thought about the expression on her face after Majin Buu's defeat. She really had looked like she had been worried. She cared.

He felt a smile tug at his lips. The fact that she cared meant a lot to him. He would do just about anything for her. And right now, that meant being the best friend he could be until he gathered up the courage to ask her out.

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"Gohan."

Her voice gave away the fact that she was tired and stressed out. She just wanted to go to bed, for goodness sake! It was awfully late, and she almost felt evil for calling him at such an hour.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, concerned. He'd obviously been sleeping by the sound of his voice.

Now she felt really bad.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized. "But I've been thinking about this stupid assignment all day, and I still don't get it! I can't think of anything to write about!" She'd thought all day, all right. She'd looked at every object around to give herself an idea as to what she should have written. Coasters, couches, beds, and TV remotes weren't really very inspiring, as she had learned.

"Well," he started, and she could tell he was struggling to wake up enough to give her an intelligent answer. "It's almost like comparing two very different things. An oak tree was actually a really good idea. Sharpner could have said something about how it was strong and tall, reaching its fingers to the sky to pluck a star down to wish upon, or…you know."

She could tell he was a little embarrassed at the corny idea. But despite his little explanation, she was still a little confused. "…So, I basically take an object, and give it limbs?"

"N…no, not really. I mean, sorta!" He closed his eyes in thought for a second. "See, trees don't have feelings, either. Or a real sense of presence, family, hate, or love."

"Oh…" she answered, scratching a little at the back of her head. "That doesn't sound too hard, I guess. But it's still a useless assignment."

"W-well, sometimes they can be fun," he defended. "Or, at least, they give you a chance to try to express yourself. What you're feeling, who you are…Try writing about something you care about."

"I suppose so," she admitted. "I'm sorry to wake you up to ask you something so stupid. I'll let you get back to sleep, now."

"It's okay," he said. "Call me anytime. I'm here when you need me." She could practically feel his smile, even though he was 500 miles away.

"Thanks," she breathed. "I'll talk to you later. Hey, let me read yours tomorrow, before class, so I can see how badly mine sucks in comparison. If it sucks twice as much, it'll still be better than whatever it was Sharpner came up with."

He chucked a little on his side of the line, his voice still sleepy. "Okay, sure. I'll see you tomorrow."

She finished with her goodbye and hung up her cell-phone, setting it on the table beside her bed. After a few minutes, she found herself lying on her stomach on her bed, pen and paper in front of her as she bounced the writing utensil up and down in frustration.

"Feelings, emotions, and something I care about… given to an inanimate object… great."

She was fairly annoyed at herself. It was past midnight, and it seemed like the stupid assignment would never be over. She only had to write a little; it wasn't like it was an essay! Why was this so hard?

A bulb in her overhead light blew out, just then, making her jump in surprise. Sighing, almost in defeat, she lowered her pen as the room started to darken. She really had to remember to replace those bulbs when they blew out! Only one of the four was actually still working, making her room awfully dim.

Wasn't working in low light bad for your eyes, or something? Well, yes, but she had an assignment to finish! And she knew it. So she resigned herself to her fate, glancing out her window at the complete and utter darkness that had fallen over the world hours ago.

Suddenly, her eyes widened as inspiration smacked her right in the face.

She began writing.

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There it was.

_Her masterpiece._

Well, her only real piece of writing. Boy, she was sure to get a decent grade on something, for once! She really couldn't afford to do badly on another paper. Her grades were bad enough as they were. This would bring that grade up a little bit.

She beamed in satisfaction; reading over her work to make sure it was just as she wanted it to be.

_He is always there. A shoulder to cry on; a comforting hand to soothe away the hurt. He is frightening because he is the unknown. But still, he is there. A constant presence that you cannot escape, because he will always come running back. When you think he is gone, you only have to go to the furthest corner to find him; waiting to take you in his arms once again. You take comfort in his strong embrace, and you wish that you weren't so afraid. Scared of him being there- and yet, fearful that he will leave you. His voice, as real as your heartbeat, but as silent as the morning dew, whispers to your heart:_

"_I'll always be here," he says. And you know it's true._

_-Darkness_

Well, maybe it was kind of corny, but it was finished, at least. She shoved it into her backpack and fell into bed, not even changing her clothes.

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She met him on the roof of the school before classes the next day; eager to see what her good friend had written for his assignment.

His face was a little red as he handed her his work, and she worried, for a second, that he had personified meatloaf.

She sat down on the concrete; her knees pulled up, and glued her eyes to the piece of paper he had given her to read.

_It is still dark as you stumble out of bed. But you know she is coming, and it motivates you. You can't wait to see her! So you quickly get ready, and head out of the door, slamming it behind you forcefully._

_As you glance up to the sky, you see her; fingers pulling gently at the corners of the earth, so as to not show herself too quickly to those who wait for her. As the minutes pass, you can see her start to emerge. Beauty beyond compare, you tell yourself. Words simply cannot describe what you are seeing; feeling. She is untouchable, dangling in front of you, but you can never have her. She teases you, taking her time to appear completely. You can almost see her shaking a finger at you, one hand on her hip. Not yet._

_Minutes pass, and you are getting impatient. Almost there…_

_And in a final burst of light, you see her; glorious! Who could ever be more beautiful? No one is as elegant; as graceful as she! She sashays through the sky, and you can feel her presence; her love. It pours over you, caressing your body. You feel so warm. So alive._

_And you know you can't wait until tomorrow, when you can see her again._

_-Sunrise_

Videl sat completely still as she read, not even noticing when her legs fell to the ground from their previously bent position. "W…wow!" she managed to say, eyes wide. "This is amazing, Gohan!"

She could tell he was embarrassed by the way his face flushed, but she didn't give him any time to stutter out a reply. "Seriously! Have you ever thought about being a writer? This is probably the best thing the teacher'll ever read! How did you come up with this?"

"I…I was inspired," he told her, even more embarrassed, now. He rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously.

"By what?"

Her expression was so curiously innocent, that he wasn't sure what to do. Could he do this? Could he tell her what had inspired him to write such a cheesy thing? A part of him wanted to tell her that a candy bar had been his inspiration, but he knew that it would have been the lie of the century. He had to be honest.

His reply was simple. "You."

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**Author Notes:**

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**

Personification is actually really interesting, and it can be fun. I enjoyed (though I was also stressed out a little) writing their little pieces of writing within my own writing (yeah, I wrote those). 'Twas interesting and challenging. When it comes to English assignments, I almost miss High School. I never did learn anything in my last four years (about the English language), and it's rather depressing. The other depressing thing is that the High School I went to (K-12th grade school...I went there my whole life!) was demolished earlier this month. It's so weird, not seeing it there anymore.) That's okay, though. I read books on grammar (and so on) just for fun. Weird, I know. But I'm always looking to improve!

So if you've got any constructive criticism for me, please send it this way. I would really appreciate it! This was meant to be a more lighthearted story, since I usually only write angst. Let me know what you thought.

Thank you for reading!


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